Positive solutions of odd-order neutral nonlinear difference equations (Q5931830)

The paper deals with a higher order neutral nonlinear difference equation of the form \[ D \equiv \Delta^d (y_n - p_n y_{n-r}) + q_n \prod^m_{i=1} |y_{n-\sigma _i}|^{\alpha _i}\text{sgn} y_{n-\sigma _i} = 0, \quad n = 0, 1,\dots \tag{1} \] where \(d \geq 1\) is an odd integer, \(\tau\) is a positive integer and \(\sigma _1,\dots , \sigma _m\) are non-negative integers, \(p_n \geq 0\) and \(q_n \geq 0\) for \(n \geq 0\) such that \(q_n\) is not identically zero for all large \(n,\) and each \(\alpha _i\) is a positive number for \(i = 1,\dots , m\) such that \(\alpha _1 + \dots + \alpha _m = 1.\) By some additional assumptions, the authors prove that every solution of (1) is oscillatory if and only if the corresponding difference inequality \(D \leq 0\) has no eventually positive solution. A comparison theorem for the existence of an eventually positive solution of (1) is proved. Sufficient conditions for the oscillation of all solutions and conditions for stability of eventually positive solutions of (1) are obtained.